M'sian scientist in UK proves existence of 'supermassive black hole'

MUAR: A Malaysian astrophysicist is one of several scientists who have succeeded in proving the existence of a supermassive black hole hidden in a cosmic circle.

Nur Adlyka Ainul Annuar, 27, an Astrophysics PhD student at the Extra-galactic Astronomy Centre, Physics Department of Durham University, the United Kingdom, is among a team of international astronomers who succeeded in proving the existence of the supermassive black hole in a galaxy located 38 million light years from earth.

She presented her team's discovery in a working paper entitled, ''Black Holes, Green Galaxies, Old Stars and NuSTAR'' during the 229th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society early this year.

Nur Adlyka has also been working for the new X-ray telescope at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), dubbed NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) since 2014.

The second of four siblings from Muar, Nur Adlyka became interested in astronomy and astrophysics at 13, after watching ''Armageddon'' and ''Apollo 13''. -- Bernama